spanikopita – i could happily live on that, or just as happily die trying.
marinated octupus in an antipasto-type appetiser were quite good – just wish i could remember what they called the dish. (it’s been ages since i’ve been to a Greek restaurant. oh, the irony.)
but i’m sorry… retzina and ouzo are. just. VILE. if i wanted to drink tree sap, i’d go for the fiber content and chew on a branch.
Seeker lemony, dill stuff good! I worked with some Persian ladies and their mother would make the best dishes with dill before that I had no idea how good it was. Please post your recipes!
Alan Nope don’t like it. I’ve had it several times and friends and family have assured me that it was done well. It’s just me.
Thanks to everyone and I’ll be off this weekend to a little Greek restaraunt if we don’t get drowned by Rita. I’ll report back.
Friends and Family don’t count, you should try it, just ONE more time, in a restaurant, properly cut and prepared.
The lamb you had, was the fat still on it? The funky taste most ppl associate with lamb domes from the fat. Remove most of it and the funkiness is gone.
If you still don’t like it after that, oh well then, KPIMA!
They didn’t prepare it, just tasted it. I had mucho expensive rack of lamb that my husband scarfed and Indian prepared lamb and lamb chops and disliked all of it. Honestly I just don’t like it even after giving it numerous tries.
There are some really nice slow-braised meat dishes; try afelia (pronounced simimlar to ‘a failure’, but the taste is anything but) - it’s pork braised in a red wine sauce - it’s incredibly tasty and just melts in your mouth.
Dolmades are pickled vine leaves stuffed with spiced rice, but not to everyone’s taste.
And you can get beef souvlaki, which is sometimes called ‘greek hamburger’ - it’s very tasty and very variable both in terms of what herbs etc will have been used to flavour it and the shape in which it is presented - sometimes it will be slices off a big chunk of the stuff on a rotisserie, other times it will be little sausage-shaped kebabs on sticks. It’s all good though.
Darn, I wish I could recommend Kleftiko, which is really nice, but it’s lamb.
No one has mentioned one of my favorite parts of getting a Greek meal - the side dishes! Here in Indy, you almost always get a side of rice smothered in green beans that are cooked in a tomato sauce. Mmmmmmmmmm!
I make that green bean in tomato sauce thing all the time. It’s one of my specialtys. I also make the stuffed grape leaves. It’s super easy, and tastes even better the next day. It is a family tradition to have it for the holidays but I’ll make it anytime.
beats me why everyone’s trying to get you to eat lamb - and veal is just baby beef
my “get that away from me” foods are brussel sprouts, raw bell peppers, and anything with tentacles (regardless the preparation)
Oh yeah… I love the green beans in tomato sauce. Cauliflower in tomato sauce is good too. Basically, anything that has been cooked in tomato sauce and lemon juice is yummy.
What about the little Greek potatoes with olive oil, oregano, lemon juice, salt & pepper? And the lemon rice… Did I mention that I like lemon?
Maybe, but I don’t think I’ve discovered it yet. Sure, I’ve heard of things, like live octopus and monkey brains, that would make me squirm, but there’s nothing I’ve actually seen on a menu or in a dish in front of me that I would refuse to eat. Does that mean I can mock you?
(OK, I don’t eat veal. But that’s a cruelty issue, not a culinary one. When I was still where my location says I am, there was a farmers’ market nearby that had locally raised free-range veal. I would have eaten that.)
See…the trick to enjoying Greek food is to go to Greece. I was never really a fan of Greek food, but I loved every meal I had when I visited Athens. Had an amazing stew at one restaurant that was just spectacular…plus the traditional stuff is pretty good there too.
If you couldn’t tell, I loved Greece. Athens is one of my two favorite cities…the other is Rome.
I have not yet knowingly/deliberately eaten insects. Maybe one day.
There are a number of things I’ve tried once or twice and am not at all bothered to eat again; oysters, caviar and star fruit (not all at once, obviously) - are the ones that spring immediately to mind.